NYFW: MARC JACOBS AND ANNA SUI

Watching the Twitter reviews of the Marc Jacobs SS13 show flooding in, I couldn't help but roll my eyes like the cynical bastard I am. Sixties, Marc? REALLY? Yawn.

But then I saw it. And you know what I realised? NOT ONE PAIR OF TROUSERS. Finally my dream! As a short-arse who's packin' in the back, trousers and I have a horribly abusive love/hate relationship, and after season after season with tailored or patterned breeks taking centre stage, it's a relief to finally see a collection that shunned them entirely. In typical wacky Marc Jacobs style, rather than offer us an alternative he just pulled them completely, leaving the models strutting about in their pants. Not sure I can (or WANT to) see that look recreated on Argyle St next summer.

But overall, as much as I was ready to be massively unimpressed, I'm afraid I had to eat my eye-rolling. Or something. This was simple and elegant... Chung-ready and trouserless. Basically perfect.

And guess what else... The makeup was to DIE FOR. Just check out the brows on Cara!

I like that they didn't go for an obvious winged liner but instead opted for a smoky cut-crease, and paled out the lips. I basically rock a bold brow and nude lip on a daily basis and now amma hankerin to try this slightly more amped-up version for a night out. What do you guys reckon? ALSO, could the extreme side-parting from my days as an emo really be back on trend?

Another collection worth mentioning is Anna Sui. Part Where the Wild Things Are, part girlish rock n roll, part Harajuku, this is a collection I'd happily style someone like Gwen Steffani in. And, I mean, she's amazing, so...

And again, loving the makeup:

   

What did you guys make of NYFW this year? I feel like most of it passed me by to be honest... And I hate myself a bit for saying it but I was mightily let down by Alexander Wang. SOB!

Onto LFW now. Highlights are sure to be old favourites Christopher Kane, ACNE, Topshop Unique, Meadham Kirchhoff and Mary Katrantzou. Are we all PUMPED?

IMITATION OF CHRIST SS12

Huzzah! Fashion month is upon us! Time for me to stop obsessing over vintage treasures on Etsy and turn my attention to the shows.

First up, day one at NYFW saw the return of Imitation of Christ - the label owned by Tara Subkoff which remakes and re-styles vintage pieces. Interestingly, IOC's SS12 collection is the first for years to return to this ethos, after the company went under in 2008 and returned last year with Imitation - the offshoot label which designed vintage-inspired pieces from scratch.

I browsed through a few of the collections from NYFW day one, but the 1920/30s, Gatsby-ish/Atonement-esq, dreamlike vibe of this collection stopped me in my tracks. Just stunning! The show was presented as a wedding, with Lydia Hearst as the bride. Take a look:

The dress on the right has me drooling. Seriously.

If I could go to a wedding looking like any of these three, I would.

What do you guys think of this collection? It hasn't changed my life, but it's made this pretty dreich, dreary Friday feel a whole lot better.

I really hope Imitation of Christ sticks around this time. Upscaling vintage pieces and charging a fortune for the privilege sometimes turns folk off (myself included) and I've a feeling some snobbish fashion insiders will question IOC's credibility since afterall the garments are massively simplistic, but for me that's their charm. Whatever the consensus, I'm glad I stumbled upon this. 

Whaddya reckon?

ALEXANDER WANG- AW11 REVIEW... FINALLY!

Ahhh! HOW ON EARTH has it taken me so long to get round to having a proper look at the NYFW shows? I mean LFW is practically finished y'all and here I am at least a whole week behind - dear oh dear!

(Actually, it's been due, in part, to being pulled in lots of different directions by other parts of my life at the moment - uni, work experience, CV pimping, generally pondering where my career/life is headed... *stares listlessly into the middle distance* Aaaaaaanyway...)

It's no secret that I love Alexander Wang. My sage Rocco bag is one of my most coveted items from the Net a Porter win, and if I could have the £5,000 again a large chunk of it would go on more of his bags/shoes/shirts/jackets you name it, I love it. I'll be honest and admit that my enthusiasm (obsession?) for him took a tiny dip with his SS11 offering as I just don't tend to dig white. As ever I was still impressed with the cut of the pieces and the overall feeling of optimism and purity the collection represented, but what can I say... I'm a goth at heart.

As you can imagine then, I was suitably wowed by Wang's predominantly black pre-fall collection. In particular I mentioned loving the mind-bending mid-length proportions of the dropped waist/hemlines, and all in all it created a fitting segway into the AW11 collection which showed last week in New York.

Predominantly an outerwear collection, Wang took a detour back into what he knows and does oh so well - sporty, Gothic, luxurious, cool...

Wrap me up in this jacket/poncho effort, please?

Just effortless.

Loving the silk long-shorts and fur collar.

Is it a fleece? Is it a poncho? Is it a dress gone wrong/right? Who cares, just look at that drapey hem. I wish I'd seen this in action -can just imagine how deliciously it moves...

Looking to jazz up that old black suit jacket? Faux-fur sleeves people! Of course! Topshop is already taking inspiration from Burberry and adding leather to the sleeves of its trenchcoats but come next season it'll all be about faux-fur sleeves...

This reminds me a lot of the Yohi Yamamoto's "suit as security blanket" theme from his AW menswear collection - there's definitely something similar going on with the proportions and over-sized cut of this. Just inspired.

Classic Wang cool-factor, no?

Is there a strong narrative going on here (a la Rodarte)? Not particularly.
Is Wang breaking from all tradition and re-inventing the wheel? Well...No.

But frankly, I don't care. Like Alabama Worley in True Romance I found myself repeating the same three words endlessly while browsing these pics... You're so cool, you're so cool, you're so cool...

Thoughts please??


I'm aware this post has been a total Wang love-fest (and who doesn't enjoy one of those........) HOWEVER I've since seen some big-named shows I have NOT enjoyed so much, but I always hesitate to post those kind of reviews. That said, I'm entitled to an opinion and by gosh Ima give it... Topshop Unique, I'm glaring looking at you...

More posts coming soon...